


This is Not Your Love Story

by kaminagi



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 02:45:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1588736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaminagi/pseuds/kaminagi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So... Ethan isn't entirely sure if maybe Ariadne happens to have a good-looking mysterious possibly-a-hitman boyfriend. And thinks that maybe he needs to get his head checked because the "boyfriend" part upsets him more than the "hitman" part.</p><p>Or how the regular guy doesn't get the girl. But that doesn't mean he isn't important to the story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This is Not Your Love Story

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the [inception-kink prompt](http://inception-kink.livejournal.com/17947.html?thread=39061787#t39061787) \- "One of Ariadne's classmates finally gets up the courage to ask Ariadne out, but she rejects him kindly. He sees her with Arthur a few times and realizes she's into HIM so so the classmate decides to try to emulate him in an attempt to win Ariadne's heart."
> 
> This the first time I've written and _posted_ a work for Inception. ~~I feel very inadequate. Especially since I just watched the film _last year_.~~

"H-hey, Ariadne!"  
  
The girl in question stops, hoisting her bag over her shoulder, and gives him a friendly smile. The lecture hall is empty, now that Professor Miles has reluctantly retreated to his broom closet office.  
  
Ethan curses how nervous he sounds, but he's already steeled himself for this moment. He kept putting it off for two years, ever since they ended up in the same classes for their master's programs. She was pretty and smart and had a great sense of humour. He was going to ask sooner, but then that work placement of hers turned up and he hadn't seen her at all for almost two months. It's been three months since she came back, so Ethan has to ask now, because it's the perfect moment.  
  
He hopes he doesn't look too messy or stupid.  
  
"Say, um... are you busy later?"  
  
Ariadne blinks, looks up at the ceiling (he always thought that was cute, how she would do that when she was thinking), and then back at him.  
  
"Well, not really. I was going to catch up on some sleep, and maybe meet up with Charlotte and Eva for drinks. Why?"  
  
"Oh," and Ethan has to start revising his speech quickly.  
  
"Ethan?"  
  
Startled, he just blurts it out.  
  
"Uh, would you like to go on a date with me?" he says.  
  
"A date?"  
  
"Yes! I mean, I wanted to ask you out, but I didn't know if it was the right time and I guess since we're going to graduate soon, I wanted to ask."  
  
Ariadne's eyes widen and her jaw drops. It slowly closes and opens. Ethan feels hopeful, but her silence is slowly changing that.  
  
"Oh, Ethan, I... I'm sorry. I'm flattered, really, but I'm going to have to say no," she says gently. "I think that you're a great guy and everything and I really like talking to you, but..."  
  
His heart sinks to the floor. He can feel her patting his shoulder, entirely friendly, and half-hears what she's saying when he mumbles a response and leaves the lecture hall.  
  
  
  
"Poor you," Charlotte says sympathetically. "Sorry about that."  
  
As Ariadne's neighbour, Charlotte apologizes for not knowing that Ariadne would have any reason to reject him. Charlotte wasn't the meddling sort, so she had suggested that he ask Ariadne out but admitted either way she wasn't at all sure if Ariadne would be interested in him.  
  
They're on their way to the library though, when he sees Ariadne and a tall man in a dark suit near the college entrance. Ethan can see Ariadne laughing and she takes the man's arm when he offers it to her with a faint grin on his face.  
  
"Ouch!"  
  
Charlotte gives him an annoyed look for bumping into her, but then she sees Ariadne and the man strolling down the street, away from the college.  
  
"Huh, him again," she says.  
  
"Again?" Ethan gives her a look. "You've seen him before?"  
  
"Yeah," Charlotte says absently. "He's dropped by a couple of times to see Ariadne. I think she mentioned that she met him during that job placement a few months ago."  
  
"Are they dating?"  
  
"I don't know. She's never said anything about him being her boyfriend."  
  
Of course, that answer doesn't tell Ethan anything.  
  
  
  
He hopes he's not being too obvious. Over the next few days (and then weeks), he has counted the number of times Ariadne has been seen with the mysterious man. He suspects they aren't dating, but it looks a lot like they're dating.  
  
Ethan has prepared a list of things he has observed (with Charlotte's help) about the man.

> 1\. He is always wearing a three-piece suit (there are not many men who could wear a waistcoat and not look weird - that man was one of them). And not the cheap sort - they look expensive, like Armani or Zegna. The man's tie probably costs more than Ethan's tuition.
> 
> 2\. He's probably rich. Ethan recognizes that any time the man drives, it is an expensive car that is perfectly dent and scratch free. Ethan has a scooter, second-hand, and dinged at least ten times.
> 
> 3\. He visits Ariadne at least once a week and probably shares her sense of humour since she's always laughing and smiling around him.
> 
> 4\. He's really good looking (Charlotte's contribution, Ethan won't comment on it).

Despite the silver briefcase, he strangely does not look corporate. Ethan doesn't know why, but instinctively, there is something about that guy that says he could execute a corporate takeover, but doesn't feel like it. Ethan thinks Ariadne's friend is a hitman. Like _Pulp Fiction_ , except without the Ezekiel Bible passage and much more competent at being discreet.  
  
Charlotte looks dubious.  
  
"I don't think Ariadne would get a mafia boyfriend."  
  
"They're dating?" Ethan's jaw drops.  
  
"Well, no, I don't know? I don't think she's mentioned dinner or anything, but she does spend a lot of time with him when he's around."  
  
The vagueness of the answer means that Ethan still has a chance and he needs to act fast.  
  
  
  
"Oh, hey, Ethan!"  
  
He shuffles around, feeling uncomfortable. He's not used to wearing a suit and he thinks that maybe his tie a little crooked. He doesn't have a waistcoat. At the sound of Ariadne's voice, he straightens up.  
  
"Hello, Ariadne."  
  
Ethan pretends to be cool and stoic. Like the sort of man that Ariadne would be interested in. A professional.  
  
She smiles at him (but not, as Ethan has noted from his observations of her, in the same way she smiles at the mysterious possibly-a-hitman-boyfriend. The thought of "boyfriend" upsets Ethan more than "hitman", which Ethan mentally notes that is definitely a bad thing and that he should probably get his head checked). He tries to look (dare he say it?) debonair when he notices that she's giving him a once over.  
  
"Are you going to a job interview?" she asks. "You're all dressed to impress."  
  
"Are you impressed?" he says, trying to sound coy.  
  
Ariadne shrugs. "I'm sure whoever you're trying to impress will be."  
  
He opens his mouth to try ask her out again, but her cell phone rings. Whoever it is suddenly has her undivided attention once she gives Ethan a quick apology. Before he knows it, she's waving to someone randomly, apologizing to Ethan again (with a quick "good luck at your interview!") as she dashes off.  
  
As he watches her run off, Ethan sees the figure she's running toward - it's the tall man in the suit, waiting at the gate of the college. When the man looks right in Ethan's direction, he suddenly feels like he's been exposed and extremely awkward. Ethan takes a step to the side, pretending to pull out his phone. The man's sharp gaze doesn't seem follow and Ethan feels relieved that the man apparently wasn't looking at him.  
  
On the other hand, Ariadne is laughing again and pulls the man's arm along. She doesn't look at anyone but the man in the suit, who smiles at her.  
  
  
  
According to the intelligence he's gathered (i.e. stuff that Charlotte has told him based on when the man shows up at Ariadne's place and from casually asking Ariadne - thankfully, Charlotte is amazingly tactful), the man's name is Arthur. He is a specialist in information science and does freelance work as a researcher. Ethan's disappointed the hitman angle fell through (because that would mean that Ethan could not attempt the good boy routine to "save" Ariadne from a life of crime and the underground).  
  
"And he wears suits all the time," Charlotte says seriously. "Very refined, but not smug."  
  
Not exactly new information, Ethan thinks, and gets to the point.  
  
"Are they dating?"  
  
The answer is still the same. Charlotte doesn't know, she doesn't pry, and she thinks they're a good match if they are.  
  
"I thought you were on my side," Ethan says, trying not to sound irritated.  
  
She rolls her eyes.  
  
"Is she into him?"  
  
Charlotte has a thoughtful look. "Maybe. I think so."  
  
Ethan tries not to pull his hair out.  
  
  
  
Observational diary entry #27 (Ethan is not a stalker - if it turns out that Ariadne is dating this mysterious Arthur guy, he will back off. If they are just really good friends, then Ethan must seize that chance), Arthur is a man of taste.  
  
Ariadne mentions during a study session with Eva that she went to dinner with Arthur at a very upscale place on some arrondissement that Ethan could not afford in his lifetime.  
  
"It was for my birthday, though," Ariadne adds.  
  
Ethan does not say that Ariadne normally favours hole-in-the-wall places with really great ceviche or butter chicken, places not many people know about. He wants to, to prove he knows her better than Arthur does. But it seems that Arthur already knows those places too (because she's gone there with him) and it feels like the man is flaunting his wealth and culture in front of lesser men who are interested in dating Ariadne because he can take Ariadne anywhere she wants to go.  If she wanted pizza Margherita on whim, he could probably easily have the real thing delivered to her apartment straight from Naples within thirty minutes.  
  
However, Eva is suitably impressed and approves. There was wine and good food and it sounds like Arthur is a gentleman who remembered all the details. Except one thing.  
  
"Your birthday is next week," Ethan cuts in.  
  
"Yeah, but Arthur is going to be in Prague for work then," she informs him, "I didn't mind. I was happy that he was thinking about it."  
  
And then Ariadne gives him a curious look. "Another job interview? I wish I had your luck with employers."  
  
Eva's ears perk up and her eyes go wide. "You must really want to get hired. You're even wearing a waistcoat."  
  
Ethan is not pulling off the suit.  
  
  
  
Of course, he doesn't give up (on the suit, just the waistcoat), that in itself is a mistake (jury is still out on whether he should have given up on Ariadne). He's wearing a dark grey one when he's returning some textbooks to Ariadne and knocks on the door to her apartment.  
  
He can hear her muffled voice, something sounding like "open the door" and Ethan looks up as the hallway is illuminated by the light from the inside of Ariadne's abode. But she's not the one at the door.  
  
"Hello," Arthur says mildly. "Ethan, right?"  
  
Ethan tries very hard not to gape. Why did Arthur know who he was? Where was Ariadne? And why was Arthur in her apartment?  
  
"... did you need to see her right away or-"  
  
"Uh, n-no!" Ethan stutters, suddenly realizing that Arthur had been speaking to him the whole time (and now still wondering if the man is actually a contract killer, a very _very_ sneaky one). "Textbooks. I have textbooks. For her. Ariadne."  
  
The man nods at him, seemingly contemplating the lack of depth and grammatical structure of Ethan's ability to be coherent. He struggles not to look uncomfortable, feeling like Arthur is scrutinizing him and all his inadequacies. He had always assumed that Arthur would be the sort of man who wouldn't give Ethan anything more than an initial condescending look. Instead, it's like Arthur has just taken one glance to take Ethan completely apart and is thinking about the most interesting way to put him back together.  
  
Also, why wasn't he wearing a suit? In Ethan's mind, for some reason, Arthur always wore a suit. The man at the door is wearing a button-down (mostly done up, to Ethan's infinite relief) and plain slacks. The rest of the suit appeared to be missing.  
  
Arthur takes a step back, opening the door wider.  
  
"You can come in if you like - she won't mind."  
  
Who was this guy, inviting him into Ariadne's apartment like he lived there too? Ethan feels extremely annoyed and then even worse when it occurs to him that maybe Arthur _does_ live there now. He hadn't heard anything like _that_ from Charlotte. Ethan gulps and can't decide whether to walk in or out when-  
  
"Ethan?"  
  
Ariadne is rubbing her hair with a towel and Ethan thinks she smells really nice, like oranges and lavender, but remembers that Arthur is standing there and Ariadne is giving him quick little smiles, smiles that are clearly not for Ethan.  
  
"Uh, hi." Ethan rummages through his bag and pulls out the three tomes that he had intended to use as an excuse to see her. "Here, I was going to return these to you-"  
  
Ariadne takes them, but Arthur, without even needing to ask, is pulling the heavy books out of her arms. She doesn't seem to mind at all.  
  
"Thanks," she says kindly. "You didn't have to wait around though. I mean, I don't think Arthur is going to steal them and sell them on the Internet or something."  
  
"Oh, well." Ethan can't stop himself from rubbing the back of his head. "I'm just paranoid. I want to make sure that you got them."  
  
"Fair enough."  
  
Ethan is about to excuse himself, but then Ariadne's head tilts slightly. "No offense, but I don't think that colour is a good fit for you. Maybe you need to change it up for your next interview."  
  
It's the same colour that he had seen Arthur wearing two weeks ago. Ethan mutters something about appreciating her fashion advice and waves goodbye, trying not to go down the stairs too quickly.  
  
He bets that Arthur is mocking him right now and Ariadne is laughing. He'd probably lose that bet though - it seems unlikely that Arthur would be that cruel, which makes Ethan feel even worse.  
  
  
  
Charlotte admits that Arthur stays at Ariadne's place whenever he's in town. Not that the man seems very consistent with how long or when he does. It's not perfect - some times, it seems, Arthur just leaves without saying anything to Ariadne, who seethes and then withdraws from everyone. That's the trouble with mysterious men like Arthur, Ethan thinks, they're not reliable.  
  
But Arthur always comes back to her.  
  
He is reliable, it's just that he's not reliable in the way that Ariadne wants him to be.  
  
Charlotte reluctantly says that she's heard them argue, terribly, especially when he comes back. She never hears exactly what they argue about, just a few words like "dreams" and "-too risky" and "didn't ask you to" and names of people Charlotte doesn't know. It's like she can hear them sulk through the walls between their flats when the strained yelling stops and then it's too quiet, and she admits to Ethan that she's a little scared and feels sad because the arguments sound painful. At least there isn't the sound of breakable objects being thrown.  
  
Ethan doesn't think he can come to the rescue against something like that, simply because he is not Arthur, he's Ethan. As much as he hates what he's heard from Charlotte, how Ariadne might be getting hurt, and never hopes to argue with Ariadne like Arthur does, it feels as though whatever Ariadne and Arthur argue about is something he can't touch, it runs too deeply between them.  
  
But Charlotte tells him that in spite of their arguments, she almost always sees them the next day, drinking coffee at the cafe down the street, and they're relaxed and conversing as they usually do, like they've resolved whatever they had been screaming about the night before. Their relationship is still completely ambiguous.  
  
Ethan isn't sure how he's even going to compete against Arthur and he isn't sure why he keeps trying. Maybe it's because the only thing he has going for him is that he is always there in Paris at the same time as Ariadne whereas Arthur is not.  
  
  
  
There is a period of three months when Ethan has hope. It is because Arthur does not appear at all - it's like the man has disappeared into thin air. It's much longer than he's ever been away and it doesn't look like he's coming back. Ariadne welcomes Ethan's company (actually, she welcomes everyone's company, but Ethan is working on making himself her exclusive confidante). If Ariadne seems a bit distracted and a little sadder these days, she doesn't show it.  
  
"Oh, she's livid," Eva whispers to him during Professor Erickson's lecture, when they are supposed to be attentive TAs. "When I tried to ask her about him, she almost beaned me with volume II of _The History of Russian Architecture_."  
  
"Post-Soviet?"  
  
Eva's eyes darken. " _Pre._ "  
  
Ethan should know better. (And he doesn't want to get hit with volume II of _The History of Russian Architecture_. The book, he swears, is the weight of at least two of Charlotte's chemistry textbooks from her second undergraduate year. "The ones on organic chemistry," Charlotte had remarked, upon seeing said volume II, and Ethan shudders at the comparison because he remembers helping her carry those books.)  
  
He should know it means that Ariadne is really upset over the jerk (it secretly fills Ethan with joy that he can think of oh-so-seemingly-perfect Arthur as someone flawed, someone inconsiderate of someone as wonderful as Ariadne), but instead he constantly avails himself as the person who will cheer her up. He tries to be charming, say things that will cheer her up, like the kind of embarrassing stories of his undergraduate years (she laughs at him, pats him on the arm, and thanks him - Ethan feels his heart soar, because it's like he's almost there, if he can get her to laugh maybe more like when she was with Arthur). She willingly goes on walks with him around campus (sometimes, without anyone else) and they have coffee and chat about school and work, even though Ethan still hasn't admitted that he didn't wear those suits to go to job interviews.  
  
It's just too bad that each time he thinks he's gotten Ariadne's attention, she's already got someone else's shoulder to cry on. Err, beat on. Charlotte claims that her left shoulder is in great need of a massage these days.  
  
  
  
It's 11:00 PM in late April and Ethan thinks that maybe after this study session in Ariadne's apartment, he'll be the last person to leave and he'll get his chance. He can ask her out. And she'll (maybe) say yes. They can have lunch together. Sushi, perhaps, at that place she likes. Ethan will pay for her, because that's gentlemanly behavior and if she protests, he'll promise they'll go halfsies on the next one. He'll emphasize "next one," so she knows. He can make her smile, just like she does around Arthur.  
  
But for now, he is part of the group of seven people crowded around her coffee table with their eyes glazed over three textbooks and courseware packages and lecture notes and sketches and calculations, trying to cram information into their heads for exams next week. He barely hears the sharp knock on the door and almost doesn't register Ariadne getting up ( _Why, why didn't he? How could anyone ignore her?_ ) to answer her unexpected visitor.  
  
"I love you," a low voice says abruptly.  
  
Ethan and the five people in Ariadne's small living room area manage to vaguely look at the doorway and see there is an extremely disheveled ("but still attractive," Eva unhelpfully adds) man kissing Ariadne ("Very passionately," Eva contributes, again _unhelpfully_ ), with an arm around her waist and the other behind her neck. Ariadne, for her part, doesn't push him away - in fact, Ethan can see her hand gently sliding down the left side of Arthur's face.  
  
He's too tired to feel the devastation that Ariadne is very clearly establishing that she's _very_ into Arthur. Ethan watches Arthur pull away from Ariadne, look into her apartment with bleary looking eyes to see that she has guests. Arthur looks very strange when he's embarrassed, blinking in realization that Ariadne has company; it occurs to Ethan that the man, under all his suaveness, is still human. And if he can be so oblivious to everything except Ariadne, well, Arthur might be a jerk but what ever Ariadne feels for him might be sincerely reciprocated.  
  
Some feeling Ethan can't name falls over him as the scene at the door continues. Ariadne murmurs something soothing to Arthur, something that sounds like "I'll call you. Come back later," and the man nods dumbly at her as she strokes his cheek affectionately. The door closes quietly, everyone blinks, and Ariadne returns to the table looking a bit flushed but distinctly happier than she's been in weeks.  
  
They are all tactful enough not to ask what has just transpired and she avoids the direct gazes of six pairs of eyes. It is obvious enough from the way Ariadne's mood is changing the local atmosphere, but everyone is much too tired to prod and tease, and they all return to the original immediate purpose of the gathering of academics.  
  
Ethan wants to be the first to leave, because he can't bring himself to be the last to leave, just as he had initially planned until that was derailed by the appearance of that man. So he waits until Eva excuses herself, yawning about needing to hold office hours the next morning for undergrads who probably haven't started their essays yet, and leaves with her.  
  
On the way out, Ethan does figure out the name of the feeling he's got by the time Ariadne has kicked everyone out of her apartment.  
  
It's called resignation.  
  
  
  
A week later, Charlotte finally confirms that yes, Ariadne is in a relationship with Arthur, and they are living together. Well, starting now. Officially. Who knows what was going on before? Only Ariadne, only Arthur, that's for sure.  
  
Ethan has to cover his ears and tell Charlotte, no, he doesn't want to know that they hadn't left her apartment for three days following Arthur's sudden return. Charlotte and Eva try not to gossip about Ariadne and Arthur around him (he still hears snatches - "For **three** days! What else could they be doing? Playing cards?" "Of course. You know. _Playing cards._ ")  
  
It's like the universe is doing everything it can to tell him he's got no chance in hell with Ariadne (and probably never did). After the exams, he sees her walking on the bridge overlooking the river with Arthur. They're holding hands and Arthur tucks a stray curl behind Ariadne's ear when Ethan sees them stop and kiss.  
  
It should be weird, seeing them together. But it's not. He can't figure it out. He doesn't even feel jealous or envious. They look so happy together, so all he can do sigh in frustration and shove his hands into his pockets, and walk away in the other direction, hopefully without them seeing him.  
  
  
  
  
Really, Ethan doesn't know what to make of the package he receives soon after containing an expensive Italian silk tie and a very short note in handwriting he doesn't recognize.  
  
_Thank you._  
  
He wears the tie to an actual job interview and it's remarkable how well it goes with the only really decent suit he owns. Everyone celebrates him getting the job right after the interview with an impromptu party at Ariadne's apartment.  
  
"Nice tie," Ariadne tells him with a grin, and pats him on the shoulder as she hands him a beer.  
  
It suddenly occurs to him where the tie came from and he feels embarrassed, not in a bad way though. There's a single moment when he catches Arthur's eye and he tries not to look away. The man just raises his bottle of beer in a salute and nods.  
  
"It was a thank you gift from an anonymous benefactor," Ethan just says. "Helped me nail the interview."  
  
Ariadne glances over at Arthur and smiles. "So I heard."  
  
He doesn't know exactly why they're grateful to him - he certainly wasn't trying to play matchmaker for them. All he can do is make up some plausible scenario. Like maybe Arthur, being the mysterious still possibly-a-hitman (because Ethan can't totally give up that idea and maybe he'll write an awesome screenplay or something on this some day), disappeared on Ariadne because he thought Ariadne was better off with some regular boring guy like Ethan. Ethan, who will end up with a perfectly normal job and maybe would have made Ariadne happy, and she would have been safe, and it sounded like a good idea except they both realized that it wouldn't be the case. And Arthur felt jealous and a little ashamed of thinking that way because he really loves Ariadne like he couldn't live without her and she wants him to be with her all the time. But that's all in Ethan's imagination and he really has no idea how accurate his little story is because he just made it all up as far as he knows.  
  
But he can see them looking at each other and it takes a minute and then he _gets_ it. It's not the man's charm or the strange way he seems to be able to account for everything or his expensive tailored suits. It's because when Arthur looks at Ariadne, it's like she's his entire world and there's no one else for him.  
  
Ethan's pretty sure that he's never looked at Ariadne, or anyone else for that matter, the same way.  
  
(Also, according to Eva, there is just no competing with a man who smiles with dimples like that - if that's not why Ariadne fell in love with him, it's probably what sealed the deal.)  
  
He's supposed to feel heartbroken, but he doesn't feel that way, not at all. Ethan's surprised, but he realizes he's actually okay with it. He thinks about the actual depth of his feelings for once and stares at his beer for a second, watching a tiny bubble rise to the surface and pop.  
  
There's no disappointment in his heart. He feels pretty calm, actually.  
  
When he looks up, he returns the gesture of raising his beer bottle toward Arthur when nobody is looking and then takes a long swig. _To the better man_ , he thinks, and then amends his thoughts. _To the man who truly loves her._


End file.
